Nicotine Patch May Not Help You Quit

A 1999 survey of California smokers found nearly 61 percent had tried to quit in the past year by abstaining for at least a day, up from 38 percent who tried to quit in 1992.

One out of seven smokers trying to stop obtained a nicotine replacement therapy such as a patch or gum to help them.

The use of such products, which since 1996 have been sold over the counter, increased nearly four-fold in California between 1992 and 1999 thanks in part to heavy promotions.

While nicotine patches and gum helped some especially heavy smokers from resuming smoking right away, quitting success rates after a few months dropped to around 20 percent whether or not the therapy was used.

Patches or gum provided even less help to light smokers trying to quit, though their eventual success rate was higher, the study found.

Antidepressants have also been prescribed for smokers trying to quit, though the survey did not produce enough data on the usefulness of such drugs.

"This study adds to concerns that the efficacy of pharmaceutical aids observed in clinical trials may not extend to effectiveness in the general population," study authors John Pierce and Elizabeth Gilpin of the University of California, San Diego, wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

They said participating in a clinical trial may have increased the subjects' motivation to quit.

The Original Story from: yahoo.com